380-million-year-old lungfish jawbone fossil reveals what the first land animals ate

380-million-year-old lungfish jawbone fossil reveals what the first land animals ate

The robust skull of an extinct Chirodipterus australis lungfish. Credit: John Long, Flinders University. About 400 million years ago, some intrepid fish became the first vertebrate animals to walk on land. Now a fossil jawbone found in northern Australia might help explain what these pioneering fish ate. Lobe-finned fish such as coelacanths are closely related to modern lungfish. Lungfish got their name because these “living fossils” from Africa…